We might be looking at another big competitor to Snapchat’s Discover as Twitter is reportedly working on a feature that will focus on photos and videos tied to specific events, CNBC reports. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment, and there is nothing to suggest that the feature will be eventually launched by the microblogging company anytime soon. The feature, however, is aimed at encouraging users to share more photos and videos that have to do with news that break via the Twitter platform. If eventually launched, the feature will compete with Snapchat’s Discover and Maps. Twitter is already known as a place where people go for information and share breaking news as they happen. Snapchat may not have much to worry this time around as Twitter doesn’t pose as much threat to its Discover feature as say Facebook or even its biggest rival Instagram. Moreover, it is still pretty much a work in progress and nothing is official as at this moment. For Twitter, it is a good way to try and see if it can retain and also attract more users to its platform. I guess we all have to keep our fingers crossed and see what comes out of this. Talking about new features, Twitter recently launched its Bookmarks tool. Product designer Tina Koyama said last November that the feature will enable you to bookmark tweets that you only can see. “We went through all the designed flows and picked the ones that are the easiest to navigate to test out with our community,” Koyama said in a tweet. “You told us that you want tweets you’ve bookmarked to be private, so only you can see it. We kept this in mind while creating designs for the feature.” Until now, the only way to save a tweet for later was to use the “Like” button, which saves the tweet in your profile. Not many fancied that method because it is more like you are endorsing a tweet even when you are actually not. The new Bookmarks feature is the way to go for me since all bookmarks remain private and can only be seen by you. To bookmark a tweet that you like to read later, simply tap the new share icon beneath a tweet. The new Bookmarks icon is located the same place where the DM icon used to be. The new Twitter Bookmarks feature is available across Twitter for Android and iOS, and also available to all Twitter Lite users. Twitter added a new “Share” option to tweets to replace the envelope icon. The envelope icon was previously used for sharing via DMs. The new Share option now includes sharing via DMs, saving tweets to Moments, and sharing via third-party apps. The newly added Bookmarks option will also be found in this menu. Share...

The Facebook Instant Games platform now has the chance to grow as the social media giant has thrown the gate wide open to all developers. Anyone [developers] can now build HTML5-based web games designed to run in Messenger or in News Feed. The Instant Games platform had been in closed beta since launch, limiting the number of games to under 200. Facebook said it gained a lot in knowledge during the beta period, now believes that the time is right to expand it to more developers to start building HTML5-based web games. “On behalf of the entire Instant Games team, we are excited to announce that the platform is available for all developers to build HTML5 cross-platform gaming experiences,” Facebook said. To give new developers a smooth ride on the platform, the social media giant has announced some new features. These features, according to Facebook, will help developers monetize, measure and grow their games. The new tools added to the Instant Games platform include: Ads API Ads API is now open to all developers—new and old. Recall that Facebook rolled out ads-based monetization to all beta-partner developers not quite long ago. The good news is that all new developers building for Instant Games will have access to our Ads API. This will include formats like interstitial and rewarded video ads powered by Audience Network. Ads Optimization & Measurement tools All developers will also be allowed to have access to Facebook’s new Monetization Manager. The Monetization Manager, according to the...

Facebook is at the moment not in the good books of the United Nations—the global body has accused the social media giant of being responsible for the spread of hatred in Myanmar. Formerly known as Burma, the Southeast Asian country with more than 100 ethnic nationalities is currently in the middle of a crisis where its leaders are being accused of committing human right abuses. The United Nations human rights experts carrying out investigation...

Twitter has come down hard on a number of accounts notorious for stealing other people’s tweets and mass re-tweeting. The Twitter purge, according to BuzzFeed, affected a number of accounts with huge followership—some hundreds of thousands, even millions. Known as “tweetdecking” according to BuzzFeed, the act involves some secretly formed groups called “decks.” Activities involve a “highly organized system of mass-retweeting [that] exists in order to launch deck members’ tweets — and paying customers’...

Recently, there’s a fad that’s difficult to overlook in social. And that is the sudden surge of Vero. It’s a new social application that supplies an alternative experience to the currently ad-funded rivals. But Vero is not new. It’s been around since 2015. However, it’s getting considerable interest. There’s no sure answer as to why it’s been getting popular. However, the conjecture is that it’s an outcome of the recurring reaction versus algorithm-defined feeds. It’s especially true on Instagram and Facebook. Its format is similar to Instagram. That is it focuses on photos. However, its difference is that you can publish a broader range of content. You can also post songs, links, publication and movie suggestions, as well as sharing choices. Vero stated that the app allows users to play songs and purchase things without having to leave the application. Then, there are no ads in it. It suggested that there’s no need to place any formulas in it. It also implies that the social media doesn’t have to mine data from any person. The app did create a new means to be social online. It doesn’t suck. Rather, it makes being social online terrific. The goal is welcoming,...

BlackBerry submitted a license violation suit versus Facebook Inc. and its Whatsapp and Instagram apps. It argues that the company duplicated technology and features from its BlackBerry Messenger. On Tuesday, Blackberry Ltd filed a legal action versus Facebook. It is asserting that the social media’s numerous messaging platforms, namely Instagram and Whatsapp, infringe on its Messenger service. Essentially, the case affirms that BlackBerry was the first to market it with a mobile messaging app. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, on the other hand, piggybacked on its trademarked technology to develop out their programs over the last decade. The copyrighted technologies consist of Blackberry’s crucial generation method. That is it utilized the crypto system, which is a protection layer for messages sent out and received. The patented technologies also include an interface for unobtrusively notifying individuals of unread messages, as well as UI applications that BlackBerry declares Facebook unlawfully utilized. The claim requests unspecified problems to Blackberry for infringing on its licenses. It likewise requires Facebook discontinue using its copyright. Facebook’s deputy general advisor, Paul Grewal, stated that: “Blackberry’s suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate Blackberry is now looking to tax...

Google has extended access to its voice assistant so developers can create custom commands and add native features specific to their smart home devices. For instance, the maker of a smart dishwasher can use Google Assistant to ask its machine to start a hypercycle. And thfeature need not be found on all dishwashers. How It Came to Be Before the announcement, developers had limited power to build custom commands through Actions. Actions are apps controlled with your voice through Google Assistant. Through it, you can use Google’s digital helper to read the news, check the calendar, control your smart home and more. Google Assistant first launched on Android devices and the Google Home smart speaker. Now developers can use it to control different gadgets such as smoke detectors and alarm clocks. But right now, devices with native support for Google Assistant can only use a few universal commands such as on, off, and dim. So, Google is relegating work on advanced products to device makers’ developers through a new Actions feature called Custom Device Actions. This allows more flexibility and expands support with custom commands. How It Will Affect Your Daily Life On Friday, Google announced the new feature...

Without any help, social media marketers will struggle to handle multiple clients simultaneously. It is a tough business. Clients have their own needs and concerns for content, analytics, and publishing. Some clients have lapses in communicating their needs properly. And when a project fails, they will blame you in the fallout. Some clients will add requests at the eleventh hour. Many will have issues with your content. To manage diverse clients, you had better stop worrying about basics such as passwords and publishing times for each account. This is where social media management jumps in. Here are five tips social media marketers can apply to ease the load: 1. Schedule your posting time through groups of social media accounts. Managing multiple clients can be well-organized or disorderly. It depends on time and skill—your most valuable resources. Social media management tools, such as HootSuite, schedule your posting time by creating groups of social media accounts. For instance, you can post content across multiple social networks with the click of a button. If you have clients on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, it will save time to create more compelling content. 2. Create content from RSS news feeds and content...